Chukwudi Obi
1 August 2007
Lagos — Ibadan, a rusty town, known as the wild, wild west in the political cirlces played host to Pax Health care providers at their third annual International conference.
CHUKWUDI OBI who was at the forum writes that the forum also showcased notable women as championing the cause of herbal medicine revolution in the country.
IN San Francisco, London and South Africa, 75 per cent of the people living with HIV/Aids use traditional medicine.
In Canada, 70 per cent of the population use complimentary medicine at least once.
In Germany 90 per cent of the population have used native remedy at some point in their lives.
In Germany too, between 1995 and 2005, the number of doctors who had undergone special training in remedy medicine has almost doubled to 10,500.
In USA, 158 million of adults use complimentary medicine.
In the United Kingdom, annual expenditure of alternative medicine is $230 million."
(Prof Lola Adekunle & Moody Ikeolua)
"For every disease, there is a cure in the garden just open your eyes.'
(Prof Modupe Makinde)
Saints Peter and Paul Major seminary Bodija, Ibadan is a tourists delight anytime. Its serene environment, large land mass, relaxation spots and fruit trees planted within the environment is sharp contrast to what is heard and read about Ibadan and its Amala politics.
Though the seminary is absolutely quiet, somewhere in one of the halls is over 300 men and women listening to thought provoking lectures from seasoned professionals in the academia.
The number of women that attended the event made it look like an "all-female-show" and for the sake of gender sensitivity , they invited the men to observe proceedings.
This was even stressed as all the guest speakers at the congress turned out to be women!
The contents of the congress put differently could be tagged "Trends in herbal medicine industry, uncensored" as the academicians unleashed knowledge on the participants to prove their point. Receiving a lecture from a professor is a delight because the professor in the course of his, usually lengthy, lecture will bring his wealth of experience to bear on the topic.
But receiving three lectures from two professors and one associate professor with a lot of time to play around with, garnishing their positions with true life experience, your guess is good as mine!
Kick starting the event in his keynote address, co-ordinator, Pax Herbal clinic and laboratories, St. Benedictine Monastery, Ewu, Rev. Fr. Anselm Adodo called on participants to wake up from their slumber and utilise the natural resources God has given man.
"God's plan is that we should live in harmony with creation, learn from them and discover happiness in, not at the expense of, nature.
This is the gospel which Pax herbals has been preaching for the past 11 years. Wake up o sleeper from your slumber, and let the healing radiance of God's truth shine on you and energise the dormant cells of your soul. Wake up from your sleep o sons and daughters of Africa, and discover your dignity and be proud of who you are," he stressed.
Emphasizing the richness of the African continent, in mineral resources, Fr Adodo highlighted that Africa has over 90 per cent of the world's reserve of cobalt, 80 per cent of the world's reserves of chrome and over 50 per cent of the world's reserve of gold.
He added that Africa produces 50 per cent of the world's platinum, 70 per cent of the world's reserve of diamonds and over 70 per cent of the world's reserves of uranium.
He however lamented that there is alot of waste of knowledge in the continent.
"Waste of knowledge is the saddest feature of African life. There is waste everywhere. We drink oranges and throw the peels not knowing that the peels of fruits are in fact more nourishing than the fruits themselves. High quality cattle are taken to the city to be sold and the money used to buy poor quality imported beef.
The poor woman in the village sells nutritious cassava flour so as to buy biscuits for her child attending secondary school.
We throw away precious bees wax after honey is harvested while we import shoe polish containing poor artificial way," he said.
According to the co-ordinator Pax Herbal clinic and laboratories, only a holistic approach to health and well-being can provide lasting solution to sickness.
He therefore called on stakeholders in the health sector to join hands to achieve this feat.
In her keynote address titled "Trends in herbal medicine practise and future prospects" Associate Professor of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos, Dr. Olukemi Odukoya defined traditional medicine as the total combination of knowledge and practise whether explicable or not, used in diagnosis, preventing or eliminating a physical mental or social disease and which may rely exclusively on past experience and observation handed down from generation to generation, verbally or in writing depending on the religion, socio-cultural belief and practises of the people.
She stated that about 80 per cent of the people in the developing world depend on traditional medicine for primary health care adding that this is because orthodox medicine is mostly out of reach in both physical terms and in financial terms.
Continuing, Odukoya asserted that there has been significant increase in the use of herbal medicine owing to WHO's endorsement and promotion of it.
Said he: "In pressing home World Health Organisatiion (WHO) the fact that we have to solve our own problems ourselves, Dr. Halifau Mahler, a former director general
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